Ea eta Elantxobe. Two underappreciated Vizcayan villages.

This weekend, my friend asked me if there was anywhere I’d like to go. A very dangerous question. He then modified it with a “an hour or so from Bilbao”, and I still had a lot of places on my list. I wanted a place that public transport doesn’t go or isn’t as well served, and I figured with the hot temperatures (36ºC or 96ºF supposedly), a coastal place would be nice. We settled on these two villages on the eastern side of Urdaibai, the beautiful natural reserve an hour or so from Bilbao.

We first went to Ea, population around 800, which was a quaint fishermen village with some beautiful views of the Cantabrian Sea. Rumour has it that it is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records for having the shortest name of a village, but I cannot find confirmation of this. In July, they have a three-day poetry festival. Fuimos a Ea, población 800, primero, que es un pueblo de pescadores bonito que ofrece vistas preciosas del Mar Cantábrico. Se dice que está en el Libro Guiness de los Récords por tener el nombre más corto de un pueblo, pero no puedo confirmarlo. En julio, tienen un festival de poesía que dura tres días.

There wasn’t much of a beach, but the views of the sea were quite nice. We stopped on a nice terraza to admire the views of the Ea river. No había mucha playa, pero las vistas del mar estaban bien. Tomamos algo en una terraza para disfrutar las vistas de la Ría Ea.

The next stop was Elantxobe. I had been to Elantxobe once before, on a very rainy day in 2012 on a short visit to Euskadi. It’s known for having a bus turntable. The bus doesn’t have room to turn around, so there is a platform that turns it around. I have yet to see it, as the bus from Bilbao to Lekeito that passes through Eltanxobe and Ea only runs once every two hours. (I know some parts of Spain would be like “so often!”, but Vizcaya’s public transport runs every hour most of the time. I have been spoiled). It also is built into the hill down to the port, which is what I imagined the Cinque Terre to have been more like. My friend was too tired to walk down there, so I may end up back here again some day. There isn’t much to see or do, but for a quiet afternoon on a hot day, these two villages were just what the doctor had prescribed. La próxima parada era Elantxobe. Había visitado Elantxobe una vez antes en un día super lluvioso en 2012 durante una visita corta a Euskado. Elantxobe es conocido por su parada de autobuses especial. No tiene espacio para el cambio de sentido, entonces, la carreterra darle la vuelta al autobus. Todavía no lo he visto, como el autobus de Bilbao a Lekeitio que pasa por Elantxobe y Ea solo pasa cada dos horas. (Sé que hay algunas partes de España que dirían “¡Es mucho!”, pero el transpote público de Vizcaya funciona superbien y suele pasar cada hora.) El pueblo está construido al monte que baja al puerto. Antes imaginaba las Cinco Tierras (Cinque Terre) para ser algo así. Mi amigo estaba demasiado cansado para hacer el esfuerzo. Entonces, igual un día volveré una vez más. No hay mucho ver pero para pasar una tarde de sol tranquilamente, los pueblos de Ea y Elantxobe era lo que mi hizo falta.